1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an input device having an illumination function which illuminates light using the light from the rear, and particularly to an improvement of an illumination mechanism in the input device in which an operating member to be in a rotating operation and an illumination portion therearound are arranged.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various illumination portions are generally provided in an input device of vehicle equipment such as a car audio system or a car air conditioner to visually recognize operating positions or action states even in a dark place at night or the like. That is, a user is allowed to perform a desired operation even in the dark place by illuminating a partial region of an operating member as an indicator or by illuminating characters, symbol marks or the like which display functions or the like around the operating member.
In a case where an illumination portion is provided on the operating member to be in a rotating operation, a technology has been well known in the related art, where a light guide body is embedded in a portion of the operating member and by emitting light of a light source to the light guide body from the rear, a front end face of the light guide body forms the illumination portion. In addition, an illumination mechanism has been also proposed in the related art (for example, PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 10-508140), where since the light guide body can be formed as a resin mold product, an extended portion formed by extending a portion of the light guide body provided in the operating member is located in the rear of the other illumination portion which displays the functions or the like around the operating member and thereby the light of one light source is caused to illuminate by allocating the light to the illumination portions at multiple places.
Incidentally, if an operating member to be in a rotating operation by a user can include an illumination portion extending annularly over the entire periphery thereof, high quality illumination with an excellent design can be achieved. However, a configuration where an annular illumination portion provided in the operating member capable of the rotating operation and the other illumination portion therearound are illuminated using the same light source has not yet realized.